Method and system for signaling and processing control information in a mobile broadband network environment

ABSTRACT

A method and a system for signaling and processing control information in a cloud cell environment are provided. According to an embodiment, in a cloud cell, a master Base Station (BS) coordinates with other BSs to determine resources available for use on communication links between a mobile station in the cloud cell and one or all the BSs during a scheduling interval. Based on the resources available, the master BS allocates cumulative resources associated with the BSs to the mobile station for the scheduling interval. Then, the master BS transmits resource allocation control information indicating the allocated cumulative resources to the mobile station over a communication link between the master BS and the mobile station. Upon receiving the resource allocation control information, the mobile station decodes the information and receives data packets from each of the BSs during the scheduling interval according to the decoded resource allocation control information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a U.S. National Stage application under 35 U.S.C. §371 of an International application filed on Oct. 4, 2012 and assignedapplication number PCT/KR2012/008056, which claimed the benefit of anIndian patent application filed on Oct. 4, 2011 in the IndianIntellectual Property Office and assigned serial number 3440/CHE/2011,the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of a mobile broadband systemwith multiple base stations serving a single mobile station. Moreparticularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and system forsignaling and processing control information in a mobile broadbandnetwork environment.

BACKGROUND

A Millimeter-Wave Mobile Broadband (MMB) system is a millimeter wavebased system which operates in a radio frequency range between 30Gigahertz (GHZ) and 300 GHz. An MMB system uses radio waves with awavelength in the range of 1 millimeter (mm) to 10 mm and is a candidatefor next generation mobile communication technology due to theconsiderable amount of spectrum available in mmWave band.

Generally, in an MMB system, MMB base stations are deployed with higherdensity than macro-cellular base stations in order to ensure goodnetwork coverage. This is possible as transmission and reception ofsignals is based on narrow beams which suppresses interference fromneighboring MMB base stations and extends the range of an MMB link.

Typically, in a MMB network, multiple base stations form a grid with alarge number of nodes with which a mobile station can communicate,thereby ensuring high quality Equal Grade Of Service (EGOS) irrespectiveof the location of the mobile station. The grid having a plurality ofbase stations serving a mobile station is commonly termed as a virtualcell or a cloud cell. In a could cell, the multiple base stationscommunicating with a mobile station need to perform downlinktransmission beamforming while the mobile station communicating with thebase stations needs to perform downlink reception beamforming forreceiving downlink control information and data packets. Similarly, amobile station communicating with a base station in a cloud cell mayneed to perform uplink transmission beamforming while the base stationneeds to perform uplink reception beamforming for transmitting uplinkdata.

Further, in a cloud cell, one base station acts as a master base stationand the remaining base stations act as slave base stations with respectto the mobile station. The base stations in the cloud cell serving amobile station keep changing dynamically based on movement of the mobilestation. The cloud cell thus is a user centric virtual cell. In anoverlapping cloud cell scenario, a base station can be a part of morethan one cloud cell. In one cloud cell, the base station may act as amaster base station for one mobile station and in another cloud cell,the same base station may act as a slave base station for another mobilestation or the base station can act as a master base station for anothermobile station.

One or multiple base stations in a cloud cell may be used to transmitdata to a mobile station in a DownLink (DL) direction (i.e., from a basestation to a mobile station). The multiple base stations may transmitthe same or different data to the mobile station. Similarly in theUpLink (UL) direction, data from the mobile station to a wirelessnetwork may be transmitted using one or multiple base stations. In orderto receive or transmit data in DL and UL respectively, the mobilestation needs to decode control information carrying resource allocationinformation. That is, the resource allocation information precedesactual transmission of data in DL and UL. The resource allocationinformation provides details necessary to decode physical layer packetstransmitted in the DL or to encode the physical layer packet fortransmission in the UL. For example, in an Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiple Access (OFDMA) system, the resource allocation information mayinclude subcarriers and OFDM symbols for which a physical layer packetwill span, modulation and coding scheme, power level, MIMO parameters,MS address, etc.

In systems of the related art, the mobile station communicates with asingle base station and receives resource allocation information fromthat base station. Based on the resource allocation information, themobile station receives and/or transmits data with the base station.However, in a cloud cell, the mobile station has to receive/transmit thesame or different data simultaneously from multiple base stations in thecloud cell. Thus, each of the base stations signaling resourceallocation information to the mobile station and the mobile stationreceiving/transmitting data from/to multiple base stations may not befeasible in the cloud cell environment unlike the wireless communicationsystems of the related art. Accordingly, there is a need for an improvedapparatus and method for signaling and processing control information ina cloud cell environment.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentdisclosure is to provide an apparatus and method for signaling andprocessing control information in a cloud cell environment.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method forprocessing control information in a cloud cell comprising at least onemobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality of basestations comprising one or more slave base stations and a master basestation, is provided. The method includes monitoring a communicationlink between the master base station and the mobile station for controlinformation associated with one or more of the plurality of basestations in the cloud cell, receiving the control information from themaster base station over the communication link, wherein the controlinformation indicates cumulative resource allocation control informationassociated with the one or more of the plurality of base stations in thecloud cell, decoding the received cumulative resource allocation controlinformation, and receiving and transmitting one or more data packetsfrom/to one or more of the plurality of base stations according to thedecoded resource allocation control information during a schedulinginterval.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor signaling control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes determining one or moreof the plurality of base stations to be used for communication with themobile station during a scheduling interval, determining resourcesassociated with each of the one or more base stations available forallocation to the mobile station for the scheduling interval, allocatingresources to the mobile station for the scheduling interval from theavailable resources associated with each of the one or more basestations, and transmitting control information to the mobile stationover a communication link between the master base station and the mobilestation, wherein the control information indicates the cumulativeresources associated with the one or more base stations for thescheduling interval.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor processing control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes monitoring acommunication link between a base station and the mobile station forcontrol information associated with one or more of the plurality of basestations in the cloud cell, receiving the control information from abase station over the communication link, wherein the controlinformation indicates cumulative resource allocation control informationassociated with the one or more of the plurality of base stations in thecloud cell, decoding the received cumulative resource allocation controlinformation, and receiving and transmitting one or more data packetsfrom/to one or more of the plurality of base stations according to thedecoded resource allocation control information during a schedulinginterval.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor signaling control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes determining one or moreof the plurality of base stations to be used for communication with themobile station during a scheduling interval, determining resourcesassociated with each of the one or more base stations available forallocation to the mobile station for the scheduling interval, allocatingresources to the mobile station for the scheduling interval from theavailable resources associated with each of the one or more basestations, selecting a base station from the plurality of base stationsfor transmitting control information to the mobile station for thescheduling interval, wherein the control information indicates thecumulative resources associated with the one or more base stations forthe scheduling interval, and transmitting control information to theselected base station if the base station other than the master basestation is selected for transmitting the control information so that theselected base station transmits the control information to the mobilestation over a communication link between the mobile station and theselected base station.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor processing control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes monitoring a respectivecommunication link between one or more of the plurality of base stationsand the mobile station for control information associated with the oneor more of the plurality of base stations in the cloud cell, receivingthe control information from the one or more of the plurality of basestations over the respective communication link, wherein the controlinformation indicates cumulative resource allocation control informationassociated with the one or more of the plurality of base stations in thecloud cell, decoding the cumulative resource allocation controlinformation received from at least one of the plurality of basestations, and receiving and transmitting one or more data packetsfrom/to one or more of the plurality of base stations according to thedecoded resource allocation control information during a schedulinginterval.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor signaling control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes determining one or moreof the plurality of base stations to be used for communication with themobile station during a scheduling interval, determining resourcesassociated with each of the one or more base stations available forallocation to the mobile station for the scheduling interval, allocatingresources to the mobile station for the scheduling interval from theavailable resources associated with each of the one or more basestations, and transmitting control information to the one or more slavebase stations so that each of the one or more base station transmits thecontrol information to the mobile station over a respectivecommunication link in a predefined order at a pre-defined time, whereinthe control information indicates the cumulative resources associatedwith the one or more base stations for the scheduling interval.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor processing control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes monitoring a respectivecommunication link between the master base station and the mobilestation for control information associated with one or more of theplurality of base stations in the cloud cell, receiving the controlinformation from the master base station over the respectivecommunication link, wherein the control information indicates cumulativeresource allocation control information associated with the one or moreof the plurality of base stations in the cloud cell, decoding thereceived cumulative resource allocation control information receivedfrom the master base station, determining whether the controlinformation received from the master base station is successfullydecoded, receiving and transmitting one or more data packets from/to oneor more of the plurality of base stations according to the decodedresource allocation control information during a scheduling interval ifthe control information is successfully decoded, sending a feedbackmessage to one of the slave base stations if the control informationcannot be successfully decoded so that said slave base station transmitsthe control information over the communication link between the slavebase station and the mobile station, and repeating the steps ofreceiving, decoding, determining and sending a feedback message.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor signaling control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes determining one or moreof the plurality of base stations to be used for communication with themobile station during a scheduling interval, determining resourcesassociated with each of the one or more base stations available forallocation to the mobile station for the scheduling interval, allocatingcumulative resources to the mobile station for the scheduling intervalfrom the available resources associated with each of the one or morebase stations, and transmitting control information to the one or moreslave base station so that each of the one or more base stationtransmits the control information to the mobile station over arespective communication link in a predefined order at a pre-definedtime till the mobile station successfully decoded the controlinformation received from one of the one or more base stations, whereinthe control information indicates the cumulative resources associatedwith the one or more base stations for the scheduling interval.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor signaling control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes determining one or moreof the plurality of base stations to be used for communication with themobile station during a scheduling interval, transmitting pre-controlinformation to the mobile station based on the determination, allocatingresources to the mobile station for the scheduling interval from theavailable resources associated with the one or more base stations, andtransmitting respective control information to the mobile station over acommunication link by the one or more base station based on thepre-control information, wherein the control information indicates theresources associated with the respective one or more base stations forthe scheduling interval.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor signaling control information in a cloud cell comprising at leastone mobile station and a plurality of base stations, the plurality ofbase stations comprising one or more slave base stations and a masterbase station, is provided. The method includes determining one or moreof the plurality of base stations to be used for communication with themobile station during a scheduling interval, transmitting pre-controlinformation to the mobile station based on the determination, allocatingresources to the mobile station for the scheduling interval from theavailable resources associated with the one or more base stations, andtransmitting respective control information to the mobile station over acommunication link by the one or more base station based on thepre-control information, wherein the control information indicates theresources associated with the respective one or more base stations forthe scheduling interval.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a mobilestation is provided. The mobile station includes a processor, a memorycoupled to the processor, and a transceiver coupled to the processor,wherein the memory includes a control information processing moduleconfigured to monitor a communication link with at least one of aplurality of base stations in a cloud cell for control informationassociated with one or more of the plurality of base stations, whereinthe plurality of base station includes slave base stations and a masterbase station, to receive the control information from the at least oneof the plurality of base stations over the communication link using thetransceiver, wherein the control information comprises resourceallocation control information associated with the one or more basestations, to decode the received resource allocation controlinformation, and to receive and transmit one or more data packetsfrom/to the one or more base stations during a scheduling intervalaccording to the decoded resource allocation control information.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a basestation is provided. The base station includes a processor, a memorycoupled to the processor, and a transceiver coupled to the processor,wherein the memory includes a control information module configured todetermine one or more of a plurality of base stations in a cloud cell tobe used for communication with a mobile station during a schedulinginterval, wherein the plurality of base stations comprises one or moreslave base station and a master base station, determine resourcesassociated with each of the one or more base stations available for useon respective communication links during the scheduling interval,allocate cumulative resources to the mobile station for the schedulinginterval from the available resources associated with each of the one ormore base stations, and transmit resource allocation control informationthat indicates the cumulative resources associated with the one or morebase stations using the transceiver.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a cloud cell environmentaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationin a cloud cell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of determining resourcesassociated with Base Stations (BSs) available for use during everyscheduling interval according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of determining resourcesassociated with BSs available for use during every scheduling intervalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of determining resourcesassociated with BSs available for use during every scheduling intervalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation depicting resource scheduling oncommunication links between a mobile station and BSs when the mobilestation has a single receive/transmit chain and a scheduling interval islong according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation depicting resource scheduling oncommunication links between a mobile station and BSs when the mobilestation has a single receive/transmit chain and a scheduling interval isshort according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation depicting resource scheduling oncommunication links between a mobile station and BSs when the mobilestation has multiple receive/transmit chains and a scheduling intervalis long according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation depicting resource scheduling oncommunication links between a mobile station and BSs when the mobilestation has multiple receive/transmit chains and a scheduling intervalis long according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11A is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11B is a flow diagram illustrating a method of configuring a rescuechannel associated with slave BSs according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to an embodiment.

FIGS. 13A and 13B are schematic representations depicting transmittingof resource allocation control information to a mobile station bymultiple BSs during a scheduling interval according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a schematic representation depicting transmitting of resourceallocation control information to a mobile station by BSs during ascheduling interval according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile station,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 17A and 17B are schematic representations depicting communicationof pre-control information from a master BS before the start of everyvalidity period according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a schematic representation depicting an alternate way ofcommunicating pre-control information from a master BS before the startof every validity period according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 19 is a schematic representation depicting an alternate way ofcommunicating pre-control information from a master BS before the startof every validity period according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 20 is a schematic representation depicting an alternate way ofcommunicating pre-control information from a master BS before the startof every validity period according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 21 illustrates a block diagram of a mobile station, such as thoseshown in FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 22 illustrates a block diagram of a BS, such as those shown in FIG.1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

The same reference numerals are used to represent the same elementsthroughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the various embodiments describedherein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functionsand constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

The present disclosure provides a method and system for signaling andprocessing control information in a cloud cell environment. In thefollowing detailed description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form apart hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration variousembodiments in which the present disclosure may be practiced. Thesevarious embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable thoseskilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to beunderstood that other various embodiments may be utilized and thatchanges may be made without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to betaken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure isdefined only by the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a cloud cell environmentaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, the cloud cell environment 100 includes a pluralityof cloud cells 110A, 110B . . . 110N. A cloud cell is a user centricvirtual cell consisting of a plurality of base stations serving a mobilestation. A cloud cell serving a mobile station may have the same basestations as in another cloud cell serving another mobile station. Also,a cloud cell serving a mobile station may have some base stations thatare the same as base stations in another cloud cell serving anothermobile station. On the other hand, all base stations of a cloud cellserving a mobile station may all be distinct from base stations inanother cloud cell serving another mobile station. A cloud cellconsisting of two or more BSs is formed when a mobile station enters awireless network. Base stations in a cloud cell as well as a master basestation may change based on the movement of the mobile station. When abase station joins or exits the cloud cell, the cloud cell is said to beupdated.

For the purpose of illustration, two cloud cells (e.g., the cloud cell110A and the cloud cell 110B) are depicted in FIG. 1. The cloud cell110A includes multiple Base Stations (BSs) 102A to 102C serving a MobileStation (MS) 104. In the cloud cell 110A, the BS 102A is assigned a roleof a master and each of the remaining BSs 102B and 102C acts as a slaveBS. Similarly, the cloud cell 110B includes multiple BSs 102D to 102Gserving a mobile station 106. In the cloud cell 110B, the BS 102E is amaster BS while each of the remaining BSs 102D, 102F and 102G acts as aslave BS. In each of the cloud cells 110A-N, a master BS can directlycommunicate data packets with a data gateway 108 while a slave BScommunicates with the data gateway 108 via the master BS. The datagateway 108 may be directly connected to an Internet Protocol (IP)network 112 or connected via other network nodes.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the cloud cell110A, the master BS 102A coordinates with other BSs 102B-C to determineresources available for use on communication links between the mobilestation 104 and one or all of the BSs 102A-C during a schedulinginterval. Based on the resources available, the master BS 102A allocatescumulative resources associated with each of the BSs 102A-C to themobile station 104 for the scheduling interval. Then, the master BS 102Atransmits resource allocation control information indicating theallocated cumulative resources to the mobile station 104 over acommunication link between the master BS 102A and the mobile station104. The resource allocation control information provides detailsnecessary to decode physical layer packets transmitted in the downlinkdirection and/or to encode physical layer packets for transmission inthe uplink direction. Upon receiving the resource allocation controlinformation, the mobile station 104 decodes the same and receives datapackets from each of the BSs 102A-C during the scheduling intervalaccording to the decoded resource allocation control information. Inthis manner, control information on resources from one or more basestations is provided to a mobile station in a cloud cell during everyscheduling interval. This and other various embodiments are explained ingreater detail in the following description of FIGS. 2 to 22.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, before every scheduling interval, a master BS 102Adetermines which of base stations in the cloud cell 110A are to be usedfor communicating with the mobile station 104 during a schedulinginterval, at operation 202. It is possible that the master BS 102A maydetermine that none of the slave BSs 102B and 102C are to be used forcommunication with the mobile station 104 for a particular schedulinginterval. It is also possible that the master BS 102A may determine thatthe slave BSs 102B and 102C may only be used for communication with themobile station 104 for another scheduling interval. For the purpose ofillustration, it is assumed that the master BS 102A, at operation 202,determines that all the BSs 102A-C in the cloud cell are to be used forcommunication during the scheduling interval.

At operation 204, the master BS 102A determines resources associatedwith itself, and the slave BSs 102B and 102C available for use on arespective communication link between the mobile station 104 and the BSs102A-C during the scheduling interval. In an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the master BS 102A also coordinates with the slave BSs 102Band 102C to determine available resources across the slave BSs 102B and102C. In an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure, the masterBS 102A may receive resource allocation control information indicatingrespective resources to be used on respective communication links fromthe slave BSs 102B and 102C. The master BS 102A combines the resourceallocation control information received from the slave BSs 102B and 102Cand transmits the combined resource allocation control information tothe mobile station 104. Methods of determining resources available foruse on communication links between the mobile station 104 and the BSs102A-C are illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5.

At operation 206, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources tothe mobile station 104 for the scheduling interval from the availableresources associated with the master BS 102A, the slave BS 102B and theslave BS 102C. For example, the cumulative resources may includedownlink resources and/or uplink resources from the BSs 102A to 102Cassigned for use on respective communication links between the mobilestation 104 and the BSs 102A-C. The master BS 102A may allocate uplinkresources from the BSs 102A-C to the mobile station 104 based on anumber of transmit chains in the mobile station 104. Similarly, themaster BS 102A may allocate downlink resources from the BSs 102A-C tothe mobile station 104 based on the number of receive chains in themobile station 104. For example, if the mobile station 104 has a singlereceive chain, then the master BS 102A allocates the down link resourcesfrom each BS at a time or multiple BSs 102A-C in a time multiplexedmanner within the scheduling interval. Alternatively, when the mobilestation 104 has multiple receive chains, the master BS 102A may allocatedownlink resources from multiple BSs at a time or in a time multiplexedmanner, wherein the number of BSs scheduled at a time is equal to orless than the number of receive chains in the mobile station 104.

At operation 208, the mobile station 104 monitors a communication linkbetween the master BS 102A and the mobile station 104 for resourceallocation control information. In some various embodiments, theresource allocation control information includes cumulative resourcesfrom the BSs 102A to 102C allocated to the mobile station 104 fordownlink and uplink transmission. It can be noted that, the mobilestation 104 monitors the control information from the master BS 102Airrespective of whether the same or different data is transmitted indownlink and/or uplink between the mobile station 104 and the BSs 102Ato 102C. At operation 210, the master BS 102A transmits the resourceallocation control information to the mobile station 104 over thecommunication link. Also, the master BS 102A sends the resourceallocation information to the slave BSs 102B and 102C when the master BS102A has allocated the cumulative resources from the BSs 102A-C to themobile station 104, at operation 211. At operation 212, the mobilestation 104 decodes the received cumulative resource allocation controlinformation. At operation 214, the mobile station 104 and the basestations 102A-C transmits/receives data packets to/from the BSs 102A-Cduring the scheduling interval according to the decoded resourceallocation control information. If the mobile station 104 has a singlereceive chain, then the mobile station 104 receives data packets fromeach of the BSs 102A to 102C according to the decoded resourceallocation control information using the single receive chain.Alternatively, if the mobile station 104 has multiple receive chains,the mobile station 104 receives data packets from the BSs 102A to 102Caccording to the decoded resource allocation control information usingthe multiple receive chains. In some embodiments, when the mobilestation 104 has multiple receive chains, the mobile station 104 may usea dedicated receive chain for receiving control information and/or datapackets from the master BS 102A and remaining receive chain(s) forreceiving data packets from the slave BSs 102B and 102C.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of determining resourcesassociated with BSs available for use during every scheduling intervalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the master BS 102A receives information onrespective resources from the slave BSs 102B and 102C. In these variousembodiments, the respective slave BSs 102B and 102C periodically sharefull resource allocation information with the master BS 102A and sharepartial resource allocation information when there is a change inresource information. The slave BSs 102B and 102C share the full ordelta resource allocation information before every scheduling interval.

Referring to FIG. 3, the master BS 102A sends a request for sharingperiodic delta resource allocation information to the slave BSs 102A and102B respectively at operation 302. At operation 304, the slave BSs 102Band 102C share full resource allocation information with the master BS102A. At operation 306, the master BS 102A allocates cumulativeresources to the mobile station 104 using the full resource allocationinformation received from the slave BSs 102B and 102C for a firstscheduling interval.

At operation 308, the slave BSs 102B and 102C send respective periodicdelta resource allocation information to the master BS 102A. Theperiodic delta resource allocation information may include informationassociated with resources allocated/freed upon sending the full resourceallocation information. At operation 310, the master BS 102A allocatescumulative resources to the mobile station 104 using the full resourceallocation information and the periodic delta resource allocationinformation received from the slave BSs 102B and 102C for a secondscheduling interval. The slave BSs 102B and 102C share the respectiveperiodic delta resource allocation information till a point thatperiodic full resource allocation information is to be shared.

At operation 312, the slave BSs 102B and 102C share periodic fullresource allocation information with the master BS 102A. At operation314, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources to the mobilestation 104 using the full resource allocation information received fromthe slave BSs 102B and 102C for a third scheduling interval. Thereafter,the operations 306 to 314 are repeated.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram 400 illustrating a method of determiningresources associated with BSs available for use during every schedulinginterval according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, the master BS 102A sends a request for sharingperiodic full resource allocation information to the slave BSs 102B and102C respectively at operation 402. At operation 404, the slave BSs 102Band 102C share full resource allocation information with the master BS102A. At operation 406, the master BS 102A allocates cumulativeresources to the mobile station 104 using the full resource allocationinformation received from the slave BSs 102B and 102C for a firstscheduling interval. The slave BSs 102B and 102C continue to share fullresource allocation information to the master BS before every schedulinginterval.

It is assumed that the slave BS 102C joins another cloud cell and sharespart of its resources with a mobile station in that cloud cell. In sucha case, at operation 408, the slave BSs 102B and 102C share the periodicfull resource allocation information with the master BS 102A. Atoperation 410, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources to themobile station 104 based on updated full resource allocation informationshared by the slave BSs 102B and 102C.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of determining resourcesassociated with BSs available for use during every scheduling intervalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the slave BSs 102B and 102C may provide access topartial or full resources to the master BS 102A. The slave BS 102B/102Cmay give control to the master BS 102A to manage full resources when therespective slave BS 102B/102C is the sole member of the cloud cell 110A.Alternatively, if the slave BS 102B/102C is a member of two or morecloud cells 110A-N, the respective slave BS 102B/102C gives control tothe master BS 102A to manage partial resources. The slave BSs 102B and102C notify the master BS 102A which of the resources are to be managedthrough a resource allocation update message. For example, the resourceallocation update message may include information on the resources(e.g., partial or full resources) to be managed.

Referring to FIG. 5, the master BS 102A sends a resource allocationrequest for controlling resources to the slave BSs 102B and 102Crespectively at operation 502. At operation 504, the slave BSs 102B and102C send a resource allocation response indicating whether full orpartial resources are to be controlled by the master BS 102A. Atoperation 506, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources to themobile station 104 based on the resource allocation responses.

It is assumed that the slave BS 102C joins another cloud cell before asecond scheduling interval and shares part of its resources with thecloud cell 110B. In such a case, at operation 508, the slave BS 102Csends a resource allocation update to the master BS 102A indicating thatthe partial resources are shared with the cloud cell 110B. Accordingly,at operation 510, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources tothe mobile station 104 based on the resource update received from theslave BS 102C.

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation depicting resource scheduling oncommunication links between a mobile station and BSs when the mobilestation has a single receive/transmit chain and a scheduling interval islong according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6, for a long scheduling interval 602, the master BS102A allocates resources from each of the BSs 102A-C to the mobilestation 104 at a time and resources from the BSs 102A-C in a timemultiplexed manner within a data portion of the scheduling interval 602.It can be noted that the master BS 102A allocates resources from each ofthe BSs 102A-C at a time since the mobile station 104 has a singlereceive chain. Further, the scheduling interval 602 can be divided intoone or more time slots. In such a case, the master BS 102A allocates thecumulative resources in granularity of time slots within the dataportion of the scheduling interval 602.

As depicted, the master BS 102A transmits resource allocation controlinformation 604 at the start of the scheduling interval 602. Then, themaster BS 102A transmits data packet(s) to the mobile station 104 usingthe associated resources indicated in the resource allocation controlinformation 604. Further, the slave BS 102C transmits data packet(s) tothe mobile station 104 using the associated resources indicated in theresource allocation control information 604. Following this, the slaveBS 102B transmits data packet(s) to the mobile station 104 using theassociated resources indicated in the resource allocation controlinformation 604. Thereafter, the master BS 102A transmits data packet(s)to the mobile station 104 using the associated resources indicated inthe resource allocation control information 604. Finally, the slave BS102C transmits data packet(s) to the mobile station 104 using theassociated resources indicated in the resource allocation controlinformation 604. During every scheduling interval 602, the mobilestation 104 decodes the resource allocation control information 604 andreceives data packets from the BSs 102A-C using the single receive chainat different time instants indicated in the decoded resource allocationcontrol information 604. Similarly, the mobile station 104 transmitsdata packets to the BSs 102A-C using a single transmit chain atdifferent time instants indicated in the decoded resource allocationcontrol information 604.

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation depicting resource scheduling oncommunication links between a mobile station and BSs when the mobilestation has a single receive/transmit chain and a scheduling interval isshort according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, for a short scheduling interval 702, the master BS102A allocates resources from a single BS (one of the BSs 102A-C) at atime. The master BS 102A allocates resources from the single BS at atime since the mobile station 104 has a single receive chain and thescheduling interval 702 is short. Generally, when the schedulinginterval is short and the mobile station 104 has multiple receivechains, the maximum number of BSs from which the downlink resources areallocated for the scheduling interval 702 is equal to the number ofreceive chains in the mobile station 104.

At the start of every scheduling interval 702, the master BS 102Atransmits resource allocation control information 704 which indicatesdownlink and/or uplink resources from a single BS to the mobile station104. The allocated resources correspond to an allocation interval 704associated with the scheduling interval 702. The allocation interval 704in the downlink is the same as the scheduling interval 704 while theallocation interval 704 in the uplink is at a known offset from thescheduling interval 702. During every scheduling interval 702, themobile station 104 uses a receive chain to receive the resourceallocation control information 704 from the master BS 102A on theassociated communication link. It can be noted that the mobile station104 may also receive data packets from the master BS 102A along with theresource allocation control information 704. The mobile station 104decodes the resource allocation control information 704 and receivesdata packets from a BS indicated in the decoded resource allocationcontrol information 704 using the receive chain. Similarly, the mobilestation 104 transmits data packets to a BS indicated in the decodedresource allocation control information 704 using the transmit chain.

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation depicting resource scheduling oncommunication links between a mobile station and BSs when the mobilestation has multiple receive/transmit chains and a scheduling intervalis long according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, for a long scheduling interval 802, the master BS102A allocates resources from one or more BSs 102A-C in a timemultiplexed manner within a data portion of the scheduling interval 802such that the maximum number of BSs 102A-C corresponding to which thedownlink resources are allocated in a time slot of the data portion isless than or equal to a number of receive chains in the mobile station104. In the case illustrated in FIG. 8, the mobile station 104 has tworeceive chains and hence the master BS 102A assigns resources from amaximum of two BSs at a time.

At the start of every scheduling interval 802, the master BS 102Atransmits resource allocation control information 804 which indicatesdownlink and/or uplink resources from the BSs 102A-C to the mobilestation 104. During every scheduling interval 802, the mobile station104 uses one receive chain to receive the resource allocation controlinformation 804 from the master BS 102A on the associated communicationlink. It can be noted that the mobile station 104 may also receive datapackets from the master BS 102A along with the resource allocationcontrol information 804. The mobile station 104 decodes the resourceallocation control information 804 and receives data packets from theBSs 102A-C indicated in the decoded resource allocation controlinformation 804 at different time instances in the scheduling interval802 using multiple receive chains. Similarly, the mobile station 104transmits data packets to the BSs 102A-C indicated in the decodedresource allocation control information 804 at different time instancesusing the multiple transmit chains. It is understood that the mobilestation 104 may use any of the receive chains for searching/monitoringof BSs as and when the receive chains are available and needed.

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation depicting resource scheduling oncommunication links between a mobile station and BSs when the mobilestation has multiple receive/transmit chains and a scheduling intervalis long according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 9, for a long scheduling interval 902, the master BS102A allocates resources from one or more BSs 102A-C in a timemultiplexed manner within a data portion of the scheduling interval 902,where one of the multiple receive chains is dedicated for communicationwith the master BS 102A. The master BS 102A allocates resources from theone or more BSs 102A-C such that the maximum number of BSs 102A-Ccorresponding to which the downlink resources are allocated in a timeslot of the data portion is less than or equal to a number of receivechains in the mobile station 104. In the case illustrated in FIG. 9, themobile station 104 has two receive chains, wherein the first receivechain 906 is dedicated for receiving control information 904 and datapackets from the master BS 102A while the other receive chain 908 isused for receiving data packets from the slave BSs 102B and 102C duringevery scheduling interval 902.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 10, before every scheduling interval, a master BS 102Adetermines which of the base stations in the cloud cell 110A are to beused for communicating with the mobile station 104 during a schedulinginterval, at operation 1002. It is assumed that the master BS 102Adetermines that the slave BSs 102B and 102C are to be used forcommunication with the mobile station 104 along with itself. Atoperation 1004, the master BS 102A determines resources associated withitself, the slave BSs 102B and 102C available for use on respectivecommunication links between the mobile station 104 and the BSs 102A-Cduring the scheduling interval. Methods of determining resourcesavailable for use on communication links between the mobile station 104and the BSs 102A-C are illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5.

At operation 1006, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources tothe mobile station 104 for the scheduling interval from the availableresources associated with the master BS 102A, the slave BS 102B, and theslave BS 102C. For example, the cumulative resources may includedownlink resources and/or uplink resources from the BSs 102A to 102Cassigned for use on respective communication links between the mobilestation 104 and the BSs 102A-C. The master BS 102A may allocate uplinkresources from the BSs 102A-C to the mobile station 104 based on thenumber of transmit chains in the mobile station 104. Similarly, themaster BS 102A may allocate downlink resources from the BSs 102A-C tothe mobile station 104 based on the number of receive chains in themobile station 104. For example, if the mobile station 104 has a singlereceive chain, then the master BS 102A allocates the down link resourcesfrom each BS in a time slot or multiple BSs 102A-C in a time multiplexedmanner within the scheduling interval. Alternatively, when the mobilestation 104 has multiple received chains, the master BS 102A mayallocate downlink resources from multiple BSs in a time slot or in atime multiplexed manner such that the maximum number of BSs 102A-Ccorresponding to which the downlink resources are allocated in the timeslot is less than or equal to the number of receive chains in the mobilestation 104.

At operation 1008, the master BS 102A selects a BS from the slave BSs102B and 102C for transmitting resource allocation control informationwhich indicates the cumulative resources to the mobile station 104. Insome embodiments, the master BS 102A selects one of the slave BSs 102Band 102C based on measurements on quality of communication links betweenthe mobile station 104 and the BSs 102A-C. In these various embodiments,the respective BSs 102A-C and the mobile station 104 perform themeasurements of link quality in uplink and downlink respectively. Boththe mobile station 104 and the BSs 102B and 102C may communicate therespective measurements of link quality to the master BS 102A. Themaster BS 102A may use downlink measurements of link quality and/oruplink measurements of link quality for selecting a BS with a best linkquality. The master BS 102A may select one of the slave BSs 102B and102C based on other parameters such as geographical location of BSs 102Band 102C and load sharing conditions in addition to the link quality.For the purpose of illustration, it is assumed that the slave BS 102B isselected for transmission of the resource allocation control informationto the mobile station 104. At operation 1010, the master BS 102Anotifies selection of the slave BS 102B for transmitting the resourceallocation control information to the slave BS 102B and the mobilestation 104.

At operation 1012, the master BS 102A sends the resource allocationcontrol information associated with the BSs 102A-C to the slave BS 102B.At operation 1014, the slave BS 102B transmits the resource allocationcontrol information to the mobile station 104 on a communication linkbetween the mobile station 104 and the slave BS 102B. At operation 1016,the mobile station 104 decodes the received cumulative resourceallocation control information. At operation 1018, the mobile station104 and the base stations 102A-C exchange data packets according to thedecoded resource allocation control information during the schedulinginterval. If the mobile station 104 has a single receive chain, then themobile station 104 receives data packets from each of the BSs 102A to102C according to the decoded resources allocation control informationusing the single receive chain. Alternatively, if the mobile station 104has multiple receive chains, the mobile station 104 receives datapackets from the BSs 102A to 102C according to the decoded resourcesallocation control information using the multiple receive chains. Insome embodiments, when the mobile station 104 has multiple receivechains, the mobile station 104 may use a dedicated receive chain forreceiving control information and/or data packets from the master BS102A and remaining receive chain(s) for receiving data packets from theslave BSs 102B and 102C.

FIG. 11A is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11A, before every scheduling interval, a master BS102A determines which of the base stations in the cloud cell 110A are tobe used for communicating with the mobile station 104 during ascheduling interval, at operation 1102. It is assumed that the master BS102A determines that the slave BSs 102B and 102C are to be used forcommunication with the mobile station 104 along with itself. Atoperation 1104, the master BS 102A determines resources associated withitself, the slave BSs 102B and 102C available for use on respectivecommunication links between the mobile station 104 and the BSs 102A-Cduring the scheduling interval. Methods of determining resourcesavailable for use on communication links between the mobile station 104and the BSs 102A-C are illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5.

At operation 1106, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources tothe mobile station 104 for the scheduling interval from the availableresources associated with the master BS 102A, the slave BS 102B, and theslave BS 102C. For example, the cumulative resources may includedownlink resources and/or uplink resources from the BSs 102A to 102Cassigned for use on respective communication links between the mobilestation 104 and the BSs 102A-C.

It is assumed that the communication link between the master BS 102A andthe mobile station 104 temporarily goes down. Also, it is assumed thatthe master BS 102A has not yet notified selection of another BS fortransmitting resource allocation control information which indicates thecumulative resources allocated to the mobile station 104. At operation1108, the mobile station 104 selects a BS from the slave BSs 102B and102C for transmitting the resource allocation control information. Insome embodiments, the mobile station 104 selects one of the slave BSs102B and 102C based on measurements on quality of a communication linkbetween the mobile station 104 and the BSs 102A-C. It is assumed thatthe mobile station 104 selects the slave BS 102B. Although, the aboveoperation 1108 describes selection of a BS when the communication linkis between the master BS 102A and the mobile station 104 goes down(i.e., becomes unreliable), one skilled in the art can envision that themobile station 104 may select a BS even when the communication linkbetween a BS, previously selected for transmitting the resourceallocation control information, and the mobile station 104 goes down(i.e., becomes unreliable).

At operation 1110, the mobile station 104 notifies selection of theslave BS 102B for transmitting the resource allocation controlinformation to the slave BS 102B. In some embodiments, the mobilestation 104 notifies selection of the slave BS 102B using a rescuechannel. A rescue channel is a dedicated control channel associated withthe BSs 102B and 102C in the cloud cell 110A. The rescue channel can bein the form of a dedicated rescue code and a dedicated or common rescueopportunity. It is understood that a rescue code and a rescueopportunity are similar to ranging codes and a ranging opportunity usedin wireless communication systems such as Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP),and the like. The process of providing rescue channel informationassociated with slave BSs 102B and 102C to the mobile station 104 isillustrated in FIG. 11B.

In an implementation, when the communication link goes down, the mobilestation 104 selects one of the BSs 102B and 102C based on measurementsof link quality and sends a dedicated rescue code at a dedicated/commonrescue opportunity. At operation 1112, the selected BS (e.g., the slaveBS 102B) sends a confirmation to the mobile station 104 indicating thatit will act as a source of transmission for the resource allocationcontrol information via a rescue response channel. At operation 1114,the slave BS 102B notifies selection of the slave BS 102B fortransmitting the resource allocation control information by the mobilestation 104 to the master BS 102A.

At operation 1116, the master BS 102A sends the resource allocationcontrol information associated with the BSs 102A-C to the slave BS 102B.At operation 1118, the slave BS 102B transmits the resource allocationcontrol information to the mobile station 104 on a communication linkbetween the mobile station 104 and the slave BS 102B. At operation 1120,the mobile station 104 decodes the received cumulative resourceallocation control information. At operation 1122, the mobile station104 and the base stations 102A-C transmit/receive data packets accordingto the decoded resource allocation control information during thescheduling interval. If the mobile station 104 has a single receivechain, then the mobile station 104 receives data packets from each ofthe BSs 102A to 102C according to the decoded resource allocationcontrol information using the single receive chain. Alternatively, ifthe mobile station 104 has multiple receive chains, the mobile station104 receives data packets from the BSs 102A to 102C according to thedecoded resources allocation control information using the multiplereceive chains. In some embodiments, when the mobile station 104 hasmultiple receive chains, the mobile station 104 may use a dedicatedreceive chain for receiving control information and/or data packets fromthe master BS 102A and remaining receive chain(s) for receiving datapackets from the slave BSs 102B and 102C.

One skilled in the art will realize that the above described method ofoperations 1102 to 1122 are applicable especially when the communicationlink between the master BS 102A and the mobile station 104 istemporarily broken. In such a case, instead of switching a role ofmaster to another BS, the other BS is selected for transmitting resourceallocation control information by the mobile station 104. Thus,unnecessary overhead involved in switching the role of master from amaster BS to a slave BS is significantly reduced. In case thecommunication link between the master BS 102A and the mobile station 104is broken for a duration longer than a preconfigured threshold, the BS102B selected for transmitting the resource allocation controlinformation may be awarded a role of a master. Alternatively, theselected BS can become a master if the BS provides a pre-configurednumber of consecutive transactions to the mobile station 104. Further,if the communication link between the master BS 102A and the mobilestation 104 is lost for a pre-configured number of times in apre-configured time interval, a new master is selected in the cloudcell.

FIG. 11B is a flow diagram illustrating a method of configuring a rescuechannel associated with slave BSs according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11B, the master BS 102A sends a request forconfiguring a rescue channel associated with the slave BS 102B and theslave BS 102C at operation 1152. At operation 1154, each of the slaveBSs 102B and 102C sends a rescue channel configuration responseincluding associated rescue code and rescue opportunity to the master BS102A. At operation 1156, the master BS 102A sends rescue channelinformation including a rescue channel code and a rescue opportunityassociated with the slave BSs 102B and 102C. In an alternative method,the slave BSs 102B and 102C share associated rescue channel informationwith the master BS 102A upon joining the cloud cell 110A.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 12, before every scheduling interval, a master BS 102Adetermines which of the base stations in the cloud cell 110A are to beused for communicating with the mobile station 104 during a schedulinginterval, at operation 1202. It is assumed that the master BS 102Adetermines that the slave BSs 102B and 102C are to be used forcommunication with the mobile station 104 along with itself. Atoperation 1204, the master BS 102A determines resources associated withitself and the slave BSs 102B and 102C available for use on respectivecommunication links between the mobile station 104 and the BSs 102A-Cduring the scheduling interval. Methods of determining resourcesavailable for use on communication links between the mobile station 104and the BSs 102A-C are illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5.

At operation 1206, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources tothe mobile station 104 for the scheduling interval from the availableresources associated with the master BS 102A, the slave BS 102B and theslave BS 102C. For example, the cumulative resources may includedownlink resources and/or uplink resources from the BSs 102A to 102Cassigned for use on respective communication links between the mobilestation 104 and the BSs 102A-C.

At operation 1208, the master BS 102A determines which of the BSs in thecloud cell 110A would be used for transmitting resource allocationcontrol information which indicates the cumulative resources along withitself. It can be noted that the master BS 102A selects the BSs fortransmitting the resource allocation control information based onquality of a communication link between the mobile station 104 and theBSs 102B and 102C. Further, the BSs selected for transmitting theresource allocation control information during the previous schedulinginterval may dynamically change for the next scheduling interval. It isalso possible that a single BS be selected for transmitting the resourceallocation control information to the mobile station 104. For thepurpose of illustration, it is assumed that the master BS 102A selectsthe slave BSs 102B and 102C. At operation 1210, the master BS 102Acomputes timing and order in which each of the BSs 102A-C needs totransmit the resource allocation control information to the mobilestation 104. At operation 1212, the master BS 102A sends the resourceallocation control information, timing and order of transmission, arange, and a validity period to the slave BSs 102B and 102C. The rangemay indicate a scheduling interval for which the timing and order oftransmission is applicable. The validity period may indicate repetitionsof the range for which the timing and order is valid.

At operation 1214, the master BS 102A sends the timing and order oftransmission of the resource allocation control information, the range,and the validity period to the mobile station 104. Alternatively, thetiming and order of transmission of the resource allocation controlinformation, the validity period and the range is sent to the mobilestation 104 by another BS selected by the master BS 102A. In anembodiment, the timing and order of transmission, a validity period, anda range are sent in a pre-assigned time frequency resource withpre-specified PHY layer parameters (e.g., a Modulation and CodingScheme). For the mobile station 104 with a single receive chain, theresources for downlink data are not assigned by a BS other than themaster BS 102A during a slot or symbols in which the timing and order oftransmission is transmitted. For the mobile station 104 with multiplereceive chains, the resources for downlink data can be assigned by anyBS in the cloud cell 110A during a slot or symbols in which the timingand order of transmission is transmitted depending on the number ofreceive chains supported by the mobile station such that one receivechain is used for decoding the timing and order of transmission by themobile station 104. In another embodiment, the timing and order oftransmission, the range and the validity period is sent in a signalingmessage to the mobile station 104. The timing and order of transmission,a range, and a validity period are herein after referred to as‘pre-control information’. In some embodiments, the pre-controlinformation is sent to the mobile station 104 in a first occurrence of aresource allocation control region of the master BS 102A within a firstrange of the validity period, wherein the first resource allocationcontrol region in the range is from the master BS 102A.

It can be noted that BSs involved in transmitting resource allocationcontrol information may change dynamically based on a condition of thecommunication link between the mobile station 104 and the BSs 102A-C.The master BS 102A may coordinate with the mobile station 104 and/or theslave BSs 102B and 102C to determine the BSs 102B and 102C which aregoing to transmit the resource allocation control information.

The pre-control information may also indicate the list of BSs 102A-Cwhich will transmit the resource allocation control information to themobile station 104. In an embodiment, the pre-control information mayindicate one base station which includes the master BS 102A. If the linkwith the master BS 102A is not good, then the master BS 102A may selectanother BS for transmitting the resource allocation control informationas indicated in the pre-control information. In that case, thereliability of transmission cannot be ensured through the single BStransmitting the resource allocation control information. As such, themaster BS 102A may select multiple BSs for transmitting cumulativeresource allocation control information and indicate the BSs selectedfor transmitting the cumulative resource allocation control informationin the pre-control information. It can be noted that the master BS 102Amay not send the timing and order of transmission to the mobile station104 if the number of receive chains in the mobile station 104 is morethan or equal to the number of BSs that are required to transmit theresource allocation control information and the BSs are required totransmit the resource allocation control information simultaneously.

At operation 1216, each of the master BS 102A, the slave BS 102B, andthe slave BS 102C transmits the resource allocation control informationto the mobile station 104 over the respective communication link in thepre-defined order and timing. It can be noted that the BSs 102A-Ctransmits the resource allocation control information before the startof data packet transmission. At operation 1218, the mobile station 104decodes the cumulative resource allocation control information receivedfrom one of the BSs 102A-C. At operation 1220, the mobile station 104and the base stations 102A-C exchange data packets according to thedecoded resource allocation control information during the schedulinginterval. The above method ensures that the mobile station 104 receivesthe resource allocation control information even in case of failure of acommunication link between the mobile station 104 and the master BS102A.

FIGS. 13A and 13B are schematic representations depicting transmittingof resource allocation control information to a mobile station bymultiple BSs during a scheduling interval according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

Referring to FIGS. 13A and 13B, the master BS 102A sends a timing andtransmission order 1302 to the mobile station 104 at the start of thevalidity period 1310. The transmission order indicates the order inwhich the resource allocation control information 1304 will betransmitted by the BSs 102A-C. The timing information indicates the timeat which each of the BSs 102A-C are going to transmit the resourceallocation control information 1304 to the mobile station 104. The range1306 may indicate a scheduling interval for which the timing and orderof transmission is applicable. The validity period 1310 may indicaterepetitions of the range for which the timing and order is valid. Forexample, in FIG. 13A, the validity period is applicable for single range1306, while the validity period 1310 is applicable for two ranges 1306in FIG. 13B.

The mobile station 104 looks for the resource allocation controlinformation 1304 in a predefined order and timing indicated by themaster BS 102A. Then, the mobile station 104 decodes the resourceallocation control information 1304 received from one of the BSs 102A-Cand receives data packets from the BSs 102A-C during the schedulinginterval 1308 according to the decoded resource allocation controlinformation 1304.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to a mobile stationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 14, before every scheduling interval, a master BS 102Adetermines which of the base stations in the cloud cell 110A are to beused for communicating with the mobile station 104 during a schedulinginterval, at operation 1402. It is assumed that the master BS 102Adetermines that the slave BSs 102B and 102C are to be used forcommunication with the mobile station 104 along with itself. Atoperation 1404, the master BS 102A determines resources associated withitself and the slave BSs 102B and 102C available for use on respectivecommunication links between the mobile station 104 and the BSs 102A-Cduring the scheduling interval. Methods of determining resourcesavailable for use on communication links between the mobile station 104and the BSs 102A-C are illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5.

At operation 1406, the master BS 102A allocates cumulative resources tothe mobile station 104 for the scheduling interval from the availableresources associated with the master BS 102A, the slave BS 102B and theslave BS 102C. For example, the cumulative resources may includedownlink resources and/or uplink resources from the BSs 102A to 102Cassigned for use on respective communication links between the mobilestation 104 and the BSs 102A-C.

At operation 1408, the master BS 102A determines which of the BSs in thecloud cell 110A would be used for transmitting resource allocationcontrol information which indicates the cumulative resources along withitself. It can be noted that the master BS 102A selects the BSs fortransmitting the resource allocation control information based onquality of a communication link between the mobile station 104 and theBSs 102B and 102C. Further, the BSs selected for transmitting theresource allocation control information during the previous schedulinginterval may dynamically change for a next scheduling interval. For thepurpose of illustration, it is assumed that the master BS 102A selectsthe slave BSs 102B and 102C. At operation 1410, the master BS 102Acomputes a timing and order in which each of the BSs 102A-C needs totransmit the resource allocation control information to the mobilestation 104. At operation 1412, the master BS 102A sends the resourceallocation control information, timing, and order of transmission to theslave BSs 102B and 102C.

At operation 1414, the master BS 102A sends the timing and order oftransmission of the resource allocation control information to themobile station 104. Alternatively, the timing and order of transmissionof the resource allocation control information is sent to the mobilestation 104 by another BS selected by the master BS 102A. It can benoted that the master BS 102A may not send the timing and order oftransmission to the mobile station 104 if the number of receive chainsin the mobile station 104 is more than or equal to the number of BSsthat are required to transmit the resource allocation controlinformation and the BSs are required to transmit the resource allocationcontrol information simultaneously.

At operation 1416, the master BS 102A transmits the resource allocationcontrol information to the mobile station 104 over the respectivecommunication link in the pre-defined order and timing. At operation1426, the mobile station 104 decodes the cumulative resource allocationcontrol information received from one of the BSs 102A-C. If the mobilestation 104 has successfully decoded the resource allocation controlinformation, then at operation 1428, the mobile station 104 and the basestations 102A-C transmit/receive data packets according to the decodedresource allocation control information during the scheduling interval.

If the mobile station 104 fails to decode the resource allocationcontrol information, then at operation 1418, the mobile station 104sends a feedback message to the master BS 102A or a next BS indicated ina predefined order (e.g., the slave BS 102B) indicating that theresource allocation control information received from the master BS 102Acannot be successfully decoded. At operation 1420, the slave BS 102Btransmits the resource allocation control information to the mobilestation 104 in response to the feedback message. The mobile station 104repeats the operation 1426 in which the resource allocation controlinformation received from the slave BS 102B is decoded. If the mobilestation 104 fails to decode the resource allocation control informationreceived from the slave BS 102B, then at operation 1422, the mobilestation 104 sends a feedback message to the slave BS 102B or the slaveBS 102C, otherwise operation 1426 is performed. Accordingly, atoperation 1424, the slave BS 102C transmits the resource allocationcontrol information to the mobile station 104 in response to thefeedback message. The mobile station 104 then repeats the operations1426 and 1428. In this manner, the above method ensures that theresource allocation control information is reliably transmitted to themobile station 104. It can be noted that, in order to start transmissionof data packets, the mobile station 104 need to reliably decode theresource allocation control information. Once the resource allocationcontrol information is successfully decoded, the mobile station 104 canreceive data packets from the BSs 102A-C according to the decodedresource allocation control information as described above.

FIG. 15 is a schematic representation depicting transmitting of resourceallocation control information to a mobile station by BSs during ascheduling interval according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 15, the master BS 102A sends a timing and transmissionorder 1502 to the mobile station 104. The transmission order indicatesthe order in which the resource allocation control information 1504 willbe transmitted by the BSs 102A-C. The timing information indicates thetime at which each of the BSs 102A-C are going to transmit the resourceallocation control information 1504 to the mobile station 104.

At first, the mobile station 104 receives the resource allocationcontrol information 1504 from the master BS 102A. If the mobile station104 fails to decode the resource allocation control information, themobile station 104 sends a feedback message 1506 to the master BS 102Aor the next BS in the predefined order (e.g., the slave BS 102B). Thefeedback message 1506 indicates that the mobile station 104 failed todecode the resource allocation control information 1504 received fromthe master BS 102A. In response to the feedback message 1506, the slaveBS 102B transmits the resource allocation control information 1504 tothe mobile station 104.

If the mobile station 104 again fails to decode the resource allocationcontrol information, the mobile station 104 sends a feedback message1506 to the slave BS 102B or the next BS in the predefined order (e.g.,the slave BS 102C) indicating that the resource allocation controlinformation cannot be successfully decoded. Accordingly, the slave BS102C transmits the resource allocation control information 1504 to themobile station 104. If the mobile station 104 is able to successfullydecode the resource allocation control information 1504, the mobilestation 104 receives data packets from the BSs 102A-C during thescheduling interval 1508 according to the decoded resource allocationcontrol information.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of signaling andprocessing resource allocation control information to the mobile station104 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 16, before every scheduling interval, a master BS 102Adetermines which of the base stations in the cloud cell 110A are to beused for communicating with the mobile station 104 during a schedulinginterval, at operation 1602. It is assumed that the master BS 102Adetermines that the slave BSs 102B and 102C are to be used forcommunication with the mobile station 104 along with itself. Atoperation 1604, the master BS 102A computes a timing and order in whicheach of the BSs 102A-C needs to transmit the resource allocation controlinformation to the mobile station 104. Also, the master BS 102A sets avalidity period and range for which the timing and order is applicable.The range may indicate one or more scheduling intervals for which thetiming and order of transmission is applicable. The validity period mayindicate repetitions of the range for which the timing and order isvalid.

At operation 1606, the master BS 102A sends pre-control informationincluding a list of BSs that are going to transmit respective resourceallocation control information, the timing and order of transmission,the validity period, and the range to the slave BSs 102B and 102C. Atoperation 1608, the master BS 102A sends pre-control informationincluding a list of BSs that are going to transmit respective resourceallocation control information, the timing and order of transmission,the validity period, and the range to the mobile station 104.Alternatively, the pre-control information is sent to the mobile station104 by another BS selected by the master BS 102A.

In an embodiment, the pre-control information is sent in pre-assignedtime frequency resource with pre-specified PHY layer parameters (e.g.,Modulation and Coding Scheme). For the mobile station 104 with a singlereceive chain, the resources for downlink data are not assigned by a BSother than the master BS 102A during a slot or symbols in which thepre-control information is transmitted. For the mobile station 104 withmultiple receive chains, the resources for downlink data can be assignedby any BS in the cloud cell 110A during a slot or symbols in which thepre-control information is transmitted, depending on the number ofreceive chains supported by the mobile station, such that one receivechain is used for decoding the pre-control information by the mobilestation 104. In another embodiment, the pre-control information is sentin a signaling message to the mobile station 104.

In some embodiments, the pre-control information is sent to the mobilestation 104 before the start of the validity period unless the validityperiod is set to one scheduling interval. For example, the pre-controlinformation may be sent in a first occurrence of a resource allocationcontrol region of the master BS 102A within a first range of thevalidity period. Further, pre-control information for a next validityperiod is sent in a last resource allocation control region of a lastrange of the previous validity period. The last resource allocationcontrol region in the last range can be from any BS (e.g., the BSs102A-C) in the cloud cell 110A. However, if no resources are assignedfor the mobile station 104 in the resource allocation control region bythe master BS 102A, the mobile station 104 cannot receive any data inthe first scheduling interval as a next resource allocation controlregion is at the start of next scheduling interval. Alternatively, thepre-control information is sent in more than one resource allocationcontrol region of the last range of the validity period. This helpsincrease the reliability in receiving pre-control information by themobile station 104. In other embodiments, the master BS 102A may notsend the pre-control information to the mobile station 104 if the numberof receive chains in the mobile station 104 is more than or equal to thenumber of BSs that are required to transmit respective resourceallocation control information and the BSs are required to transmit therespective resource allocation control information simultaneously.

At operation 1610, the master BS 102A transmits associated resourceallocation control information to the mobile station 104 over therespective communication link as per the pre-control information. Atoperation 1612, the mobile station 104 decodes the resource allocationcontrol information received from the master BS 102A. At operation 1614,the mobile station 104 receives/transmits data packets from the masterBS 102A according to the decoded resource allocation control informationduring the scheduling interval. It can be noted that, if the mobilestation 104 has multiple receive chains, the mobile station 104 may usea dedicated receive chain for receiving pre-control information and/ordata packets from the master BS 102A.

At operation 1616, the slave BS 102B transmits associated resourceallocation control information to the mobile station 104 over therespective communication link as per the pre-control information. Atoperation 1618, the mobile station 104 decodes the resource allocationcontrol information received from the slave BS 102B. At operation 1620,the mobile station 104 receives/transmits data packets from the slave BS102B according to the decoded resource allocation control informationduring the scheduling interval.

At operation 1622, the slave BS 102C transmits associated resourceallocation control information to the mobile station 104 over therespective communication link as per the pre-control information. Atoperation 1624, the mobile station 104 decodes the resource allocationcontrol information received from the slave BS 102C. At operation 1626,the mobile station 104 receives/transmits data packets from the slave BS102C according to the decoded resource allocation control informationduring the scheduling interval.

FIGS. 17A and 17B are schematic representations depicting communicationof pre-control information from a master BS before the start of everyvalidity period according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 17A, the pre-control information 1702 is valid for asingle pre-control information range 1704. Referring to FIG. 17B, thepre-control information 1702 is valid for three pre-control informationranges 1704. The master BS 102A transmits pre-control information 1702before the start of every validity period 1706 unless the validityperiod 1706 is set to one scheduling interval 1708.

FIG. 18 is a schematic representation depicting an alternate way ofcommunicating pre-control information from a master BS before the startof every validity period according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 18, the master BS 102A sends the pre-controlinformation 1702 in the first occurrence of a resource allocationcontrol region 1802 in a first range 1704 of the validity period 1706.Further, the master BS 102A sends the pre-control information 1702 for anext validity period in a last resource allocation control region 1802in a last range 1704 of the validity period 1706.

FIG. 19 is a schematic representation depicting an alternate way ofcommunicating pre-control information from a master BS before the startof every validity period according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 19, the mobile station 104 does not receive thepre-control information 1702 in the first scheduling interval 1708 asthe master BS 102A has not assigned any resources for itself in thefirst resource allocation control region 1802. The mobile station 104receives the pre-control information 1702 in the next resourceallocation control region 1802 in the next scheduling interval 1708.

FIG. 20 is a schematic representation depicting an alternate way ofcommunicating pre-control information from a master BS before the startof every validity period according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 20, the master BS 102A transmits the pre-controlinformation 1702 for next validity period 1706 in more than one resourceallocation control region 1802 of the last range 1704 of the previousvalidity period 1706.

FIG. 21 illustrates a block diagram of a mobile station according to anembodiment of the present disclosure, such as those shown in FIG. 1,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 21, the mobile station 104 includes a processor 2102,memory 2104, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 2106, a transceiver 2108, acommunication interface 2110, and a bus 2112.

The processor 2102, as used herein, denotes any type of computationalcircuit, such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, amicrocontroller, a complex instruction set computing microprocessor, areduced instruction set computing microprocessor, a very longinstruction word microprocessor, an explicitly parallel instructioncomputing microprocessor, a graphics processor, a digital signalprocessor, or any other type of processing circuit. The processor 2102may also include embedded controllers, such as generic or programmablelogic devices or arrays, application specific integrated circuits,single-chip computers, smart cards, and the like.

The memory 2104 may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory. Thememory 2104 may include a control information processing module 2114 formonitoring a communication link for receiving resource allocationcontrol information, decoding the resource allocation controlinformation, and receiving data packet from the BSs 102A-C based on thedecoded resource allocation control information, according to thevarious embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 20. A variety ofcomputer-readable storage media may be stored in and accessed from thememory elements. Memory elements may include any suitable memorydevice(s) for storing data and machine-readable instructions such asread only memory, random access memory, erasable programmable read onlymemory, electrically erasable programmable read only memory, hard drive,removable media drive for handling memory cards, Memory Sticks™, and thelike.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented inconjunction with modules including functions, procedures, datastructures, and application programs, for performing tasks, definingabstract data types, or low-level hardware contexts. The controlinformation processing module 2114 may be stored in the form ofmachine-readable instructions on any of the above-mentioned storagemedia and is executable by the processor 2102. For example, a computerprogram may include the machine-readable instructions capable ofmonitoring a communication link for receiving resource allocationcontrol information, decoding the resource allocation controlinformation, and receiving data packet from the BSs 102A-C based on thedecoded resource allocation control information, according to theteachings and herein described embodiments of the present subjectmatter. The computer program may be included on a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium and loaded from the storage medium ontoa hard drive in the non-volatile memory.

The transceiver 2108 is configured for transmitting and receiving datapackets to/from the BSs 102A-C according to the decoded resourceallocation control information. The components such as the ROM 2106, thecommunication interface 2110, and the bus 2112 are well known to theperson skilled in the art and hence the explanation thereof is omitted.

FIG. 22 illustrates a block diagram of a BS, such as those shown in FIG.1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 22, the BS 102 includes a processor 2202, a memory2204, a ROM 2206, a transceiver 2208, a communication interface 2210,and a bus 2212.

The processor 2202, as used herein, denotes any type of computationalcircuit, such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, amicrocontroller, a complex instruction set computing microprocessor, areduced instruction set computing microprocessor, a very longinstruction word microprocessor, an explicitly parallel instructioncomputing microprocessor, a graphics processor, a digital signalprocessor, or any other type of processing circuit. The processor 2202may also include embedded controllers, such as generic or programmablelogic devices or arrays, application specific integrated circuits,single-chip computers, smart cards, and the like.

The memory 2204 may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory. Thememory 2204 may include a control information module 2214 for allocatingcumulative resources of the BSs 102A-C available for use on respectivecommunication links to the mobile station 104 during every schedulinginterval, transmitting resource allocation control information on theallocated cumulative resources to the mobile station 104, andtransmitting data packets using respective resources in the allocatedcumulative resources during the scheduling interval, according to thevarious embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 20. A variety ofcomputer-readable storage media may be stored in and accessed from thememory elements. Memory elements may include any suitable memorydevice(s) for storing data and machine-readable instructions such asread only memory, random access memory, erasable programmable read onlymemory, electrically erasable programmable read only memory, hard drive,removable media drive for handling memory cards, Memory Sticks™, and thelike.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented inconjunction with modules including functions, procedures, datastructures, and application programs, for performing tasks, definingabstract data types, or low-level hardware contexts. The controlinformation module 2214 may be stored in the form of machine-readableinstructions on any of the above-mentioned storage media and isexecutable by the processor 2202. For example, a computer program mayinclude the machine-readable instructions capable of allocatingcumulative resources of the BSs 102A-C available for use on respectivecommunication links to the mobile station 104 during every schedulinginterval, transmitting resource allocation control information on theallocated cumulative resources to the mobile station 104, andtransmitting data packets using respective resources in the allocatedcumulative resources during the scheduling interval, according to theteachings and herein described various embodiments of the presentsubject matter. The computer program may be included on a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium and loaded from the storage medium to ahard drive in the non-volatile memory.

The transceiver 2208 is configured for transmitting resource allocationcontrol information on the allocated cumulative resources to the mobilestation 104 and transmitting/receiving data packets to/from the mobilestation 104 using respective resources in the allocated cumulativeresources during the scheduling interval. The components such as the ROM2206, the communication interface 2210, and the bus 2212 are well knownto the person skilled in the art and hence the explanation thereof isomitted.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for communicating at a mobilestation comprising at least one receive chain in a communication system,the method comprising: receiving, from a serving base station, controlinformation for a scheduling interval among a plurality of schedulingintervals; and if a number of the at least one receive chain is one,identifying a first sub-interval allocated to the serving base stationwithin the scheduling interval and a second sub-interval allocated to atleast one other base station within the scheduling interval based on thereceived control information, performing data communication at the firstsub-interval with the serving base station, and performing datacommunication at the second sub-interval with the at least one otherbase station corresponding to the second sub-interval, wherein the atleast one other base station is determined to serve the mobile stationwith the serving base station during the scheduling interval.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: if the number of the at least onereceive chain is not one, identifying the first sub-interval and thesecond sub-interval within the scheduling interval based on the receivedcontrol information, identifying a first receive chain and a secondreceive chain allocated respectively to the first sub-interval and thesecond sub-interval based on the received control information,performing data communication with the serving base station at the firstsub-interval corresponding to the identified first receive chain, andperforming data communication with the at least one other base stationat the second sub-interval corresponding to the identified secondreceive chain, wherein a number of total base stations allocated at atime slot in the scheduling interval is less than or equal to the numberof the at least one receive chain in the mobile station.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein the first receive chain of the mobile station isallocated to receive the control information and the second receivechain of the mobile station is allocated to perform the datacommunication.
 4. A mobile station for communicating in a communicationsystem, the mobile station comprising: at least one receive chainconfigured to receive, from a serving base station, control informationfor a scheduling interval among a plurality of scheduling intervals; andat least one processor configured to: if a number of the at least onereceive chain is one, identify a first sub-interval allocated to theserving base station within the scheduling interval and a secondsub-interval allocated to at least one other base station within thescheduling interval based on the received control information, controlthe at least one receive chain to perform data communication at thefirst sub-interval with the serving base station, and control the atleast one receive chain to perform data communication at the secondsub-interval with the at least one other base station corresponding tothe second sub-interval, wherein the at least one other base station isdetermined to serve the mobile station with the serving base stationduring the scheduling interval.
 5. The mobile station of claim 4,wherein the first sub-interval allocated to the serving base stationallocates after a time interval to receive the control informationwithin the scheduling interval.
 6. The mobile station of claim 4,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: if thenumber of the at least one receive chain is not one, identify the firstsub-interval and the second sub-interval within the scheduling intervalbased on the control information, identify a first receive chain and asecond receive chain allocated respectively to the first sub-intervaland the second sub-interval based on the control information, controlthe at least one receive chain to perform data communication with theserving base station at the first sub-interval corresponding to theidentified first receive chain, and control the at least one receivechain to perform data communication with the at least one other basestation at the second sub-interval corresponding to the identifiedsecond receive chain, and wherein a number of total base stationsallocated at a time slot in the scheduling interval is less than orequal to the number of the at least one receive chain.
 7. The mobilestation of claim 6, wherein the first receive chain of the mobilestation is allocated to receive the control information and the secondreceive chain of the mobile station is allocated to perform the datacommunication.
 8. A method for determining a resource at a serving basestation in a communication system, the method comprising: determining atleast one other base station to serve a mobile station with the servingbase station for a scheduling interval among a plurality of schedulingintervals; if a number of at least one receive chain in the mobilestation is one, allocating a first sub-interval to the serving basestation within the scheduling interval and a second sub-interval to theat least one other base station within the scheduling interval;transmitting, to the mobile station and the at least one other basestation, control information indicating the allocated first sub-intervaland the second sub-interval; and performing data communication with themobile station at the allocated first sub-interval.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: if the number of the at least one receivechain is not one, allocating the first sub-interval; and the secondsub-interval within the scheduling interval based on the controlinformation and allocating a first receive chain and a second receivechain respectively to the first sub-interval and the second sub-intervalbased on the control information, wherein a number of total basestations allocated at a time slot in the scheduling interval is lessthan or equal to the number of the at least one receive chain of themobile station.
 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:allocating a first receive chain of the mobile station to receive thecontrol information, and a second receive chain of the mobile station toperform the data communication.
 11. A serving base station fordetermining a resource in a communication system, the serving basestation comprising: at least one processor configured to: determine atleast one other base station to serve a mobile station with the servingbase station for a scheduling interval among a plurality of schedulingintervals, and if a number of at least one receive chain in the mobilestation is one, allocate a first sub-interval to the serving basestation and a second sub-interval to the at least one other base stationwithin the scheduling interval; and a transceiver configured totransmit, to the mobile station and the at least one other base station,control information indicating the allocated first sub-interval and thesecond sub-interval, and perform data communication with the mobilestation at the allocated first sub-interval.
 12. The serving basestation of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: if the number of the at least one receive chain is notone, allocate the first sub-interval and the second sub-interval withinthe scheduling interval based on the control information and allocate afirst receive chain and a second receive chain respectively to the firstsub-interval and the second sub-interval based on the controlinformation, and wherein a number of total base stations allocated at atime slot in the scheduling interval is less than or equal to the numberof the at least one receive chain of the mobile station.
 13. The servingbase station of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to allocate the first receive chain of the mobile station toreceive the control information and the second receive chain of themobile station to perform the data communication.